Champagne Harvest 2015 – portrait of 2 harvesters: Daniel and Carl

 

On Wesnesday I spoke to Daniel and Carl who were picking Pinot Noir in la Bien Aimée for Jérôme Bourgeois. Daniel and Carl met Jérôme when he worked with them in Niort. Carl elaborate: “we took Jérôme under our wing when he came to the company to do his stage and we always stayed in contact.”
Both men are now retired, but worked in sales before. It is the first time they come and work harvest and will have cut grapes for 3 days. “We started on Monday and today is our last day”, says Carl. Daniel adds: ” we really enjoyed picking even if the work is quite physical. We can feel it in our back!” 

Daniel is also a distributor for Jérôme in in Niort and sold about 2000 bottles of his champagne mainly to private clients. He really enjoyed learning more about the champagne making process. “It’s been really good to see how everything is done. We pick the grapes, have had a look at the press, and Jérôme explained us the winemaking process. I feel I understand the champagne making process a lot better now”, explains Daniel. 

Carl really enjoyed the experience s well. “We work with people of all ages, the atmosphere is fantastic, the work is hard but we laugh a lot and get to enjoy the sunshine” , he concludes.